Large quantities of mattresses are imported from overseas into Canada and the United States, in particular from China and other Asian countries. The importation of large quantities of mattresses is driven by the reality that manufacturers in China and other Asian countries are able to produce mattresses at a lower cost than manufacturers in North America. When these mattresses are being transported, they are typically packaged and carried via ship in containers. There is a cost associated with the shipping, which is in part a function of the volume occupied by the mattresses.
In view of reducing shipping costs, various methods have been used for packaging mattresses for shipment to allow placing more mattresses in a given container. As will be appreciated, if a larger number of mattresses can be packaged within a given space, the shipping costs associated with any individual mattress will be lower. One example of a method of preparing mattresses for shipment is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,093 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,895,813, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Generally speaking, the suggested approach includes first individually compressing and wrapping mattresses, for example, by vacuum sealing each individual mattress. Following this, a set of individually compressed mattresses is stacked between upper and lower shipping supports. The stack of mattresses is then further compressed between the supports, which are then fastened to one another using coupling restraints in the form of straps. Following this, the stacked mattresses with the upper and lower shipping supports can be placed within a container for shipping.
Approaches of the type described above advantageously may allow a larger number of mattresses to fit within a given container and thus may enhance transportation cost efficiency.
A deficiency associated with assemblies of stacked mattresses prepared using methods of the type described above is that, on occasion the straps and/or the shipping supports get damaged during transport or handling due in part to the pressure exerted on these components by the compressed stack of mattresses. When damage occurs, the result in some cases is that the compressed mattresses expand within the containers used for the shipment. This expansion within the containers often makes removing the mattresses from such containers without damaging the mattresses difficult. As a result, the cost savings achieved by packing a larger number of mattresses per container is reduced by the cost of the damaged mattresses, which often can no longer be sold to customers.
In light of the above, there is a need in the industry for providing an improved assembly of stacked mattresses and an improved method for preparing such an assembly that alleviates, at least in part, the deficiencies with existing assemblies and methods.